War veterans to visit Pak, push for peace

NEW DELHI: Most of them have faced each other several times at the Indo-Pak frontier. They have experienced the most ghastly moments of war. But now they can hardly hold back the excitement of meeting each other again beyond the frontier.

A team of about 160 war veterans under the banner of India-Pakistan Soldiers' Initiative for Peace (IPSI) have been invited by their Pakistan counterparts for a peace meeting to Pakistan. A majority of these war veterans have fought the 1965, 1971 and the Kargil war in 1999 but soon after retirement they joined IPSI, which was launched by late Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande in 1993. War veterans from Pakistan had made similar visits to India earlier; it's the second time the Indian team will be going to Pakistan. The core objective of the meet, scheduled to start on November 18, will be to find alternatives to resolve the Kashmir conflict.

The massive aftereffects of war on the economy and the pathetic condition of communities living in war zones prompted most of these soldiers to take up the peace initiative. "When we are in uniform, our priority is to combat the enemy. But after retirement, we see the impact of battles on people and the economy. While war is a very important tool of state policy, we felt that it can be avoided," says secretary general of IPSI and retired Brigadier J L Kaul.

He explains that the role that ex-soldiers will play in the peace process will be very different from diplomats or politicians. "We will not mince words like diplomats. Soldiers share a very unique relationship, which is not affected by the fact that we are fighting each other," says retired colonel and Vishisht Seva Medal awardee Abdul Rasul Khan.

He recollects after a three-day bloody battle at Asal Uttar in 1965, one of the largest tank battles, a few Pakistan soldiers had a conversation with the Indian soldiers. "The next morning after the war, a soldier from the other side suddenly addressed one of our Indian soldiers in chaste Haryanvi. He said that he knew the soldier was from Haryana when he heard his accent from a distance. Our soldier responded to him and called him 'tau.' It was very funny to hear such conversation after the bitterest battle. That's the kind of bonhomie soldiers share," Khan has several such bitter-sweet memories of their relationship with Pakistan soldiers. "On both sides, we realize that war with Pakistan was unnecessary," he adds.

Kaul said the cross-LOC travel in J&K and trade efforts that have started, and the move to start a new visa regime that will replace a 38-year old visa regime is likely to ease curbs on issuing visas to traders, elderly persons, tourists, pilgrims, members of civil society and children. "While these measures are great, we believe that with regular talks we will surely achieve a thaw. We want to continue discussing Kashmir, with our counterparts," he says. The Indian team also feels confident about this dialogue because "in Pakistan, the army and ex-army men have a lot of influence and power".

The Pakistan war veterans are also preparing to receive the Indian delegation and chalk out an itinerary for the meet. "We are very excited about the meet. It is long overdue. Despite fighting each other eye ball to eye ball, we are glad that now we have chance to talk about peace. We are done with the fighting," retired General Humayun Bangash told TOI on the phone from Pakistan. The Indian delegation will be received at the Wagah border on November 18; they are likely to visit Lahore, Islamabad and Abbottabad.